Bella sat waiting at the gate, anxiously, checking her watch every few seconds. She had booked the next flight to the Maldives, she and Renesmee reaching the airport with plenty of time to spare. But the flight was delayed, and Bella, not wanting to waste any time in her search for Edward, was becoming increasingly impatient.

"Mom, relax," Renesmee said. "Dad's been waiting a good century for you. This small delay won't seem like long at all compared to all those years." She raised her head, listening to the announcement. "There, see. We're about to start boarding."

Fifteen minutes later, she was gazing out of the plane window, waiting for everyone to be sat down and for the plane to take off. Finally settled, knowing that in approximately nineteen hours she would be in the Maldives and there was nothing she could do to shorten the flight, she stopped worrying and began planning what she and Renesmee would do when they actually got there.

From the moment she heard where Edward had headed, a plan had been forming in her mind. But the news of his death- or faked death, as she believed- had created a flaw in that plan.

After a very long, tedious nineteen hours, the plane landed in the Maldives, and Bella and Renesmee got off the plane, a loosely formulated plan in their minds. It wasn't a brilliant plan- but then, Bella thought, what should a person do in these situations? So she and her daughter were, to put it simply, going to be winging it and hoping for the best.


A few hours later, Bella and Renesmee were standing outside the house Edward supposedly died in.

"I'm sure this is it!" Bella cried in frustration. "I'm sure this is the place! I checked the news articles and all of them said it was here!"

Renesmee looked up at the house. "It must have been rebuilt. Well, there's no outward sign of anything, but inside, maybe Dad left a clue… perhaps there's a possible route of escape." She turned to her mother and said, hesitantly and almost guiltily, "Do you think we can sneak in and check?"

Bella nodded. "I don't think there's anyone in here. Even if there is, it's getting dark now. Edward used to sneak into my room every night without either me or Charlie noticing, so it's easily done. But still, we'll have to be careful. We can't risk anyone seeing us."

"Woah, woah, woah," Renesmee said. "Hold on. Go back to the part about Dad sneaking into your bedroom every night."

Frowning, Bella said, "Renesmee, nothing happened. Just… sometimes, he'd sneak in and watch me sleep."

"But you didn't know about it? You said you didn't notice him sneaking in. That's got to mean you didn't know."

"Well, yes, I suppose so," Bella said, beginning to get slightly flustered.

"Mom!" Renesmee shouted. "Do you know how creepy that is?" She sighed. "I love my Dad but honestly… some of the things he's done are messed up. Really, really messed up. You gotta speak to him about that when we find him cause…" Renesmee shuddered. "I'd never be okay with someone sneaking into my room and watching me sleep without my knowledge. Even if that someone is Jacob. That's just creepy… stalkerish."

Bella was gazing at her daughter, a strange expression on her face. She'd never really given much thought to Edward sneaking into her room at night. But now it was pointed out to her, she couldn't deny that it was creepy. How had she not realised before? How had it never concerned her?

"I'll speak to him about that when we find him," she assured Renesmee. "But right now, we need to get inside that house. I think it's just about dark enough for us to sneak in without anyone noticing. Come on."

Bella led Renesmee to a patch of trees, out of sight from the houses. Then she sped towards one particular house, scaling up the wall, onto the roof and dropping down on the other side, all too quickly for a human to see clearly. A minute later, Renesmee had joined her.

"We'll go in the open window. That one over there- see?"

Renesmee nodded, so Bella climbed up to it, opening it wider to slip through inside. She landed quietly, then turned to beckon to Renesmee to follow. She did so, feet silently touching the floor as she swung herself through the gap.

"If the house burned down, he must have escaped downstairs somehow. There's no way he could have got out from up here," Renesmee said.

She creeped towards the door, turning the handle and pulling it open cautiously. They made their way down the stairs, moving from room to room, trying to look for clues.

"Look, there's a basement," Bella said. "I'm going down."

She walked down the stairs and flicked the light on so she could see better. At first glance, there wasn't anything unusual. Looking closer, something caught her eye. There was a pile of boxes in the corner, and something wooden underneath, that didn't fit with the rest of the floor. Curious, Bella shoved the boxes aside to find a hatch.

"Renesmee!" she called, quietly but excitedly. "I found something."

Her daughter was crouched by her side instantly, a hand resting on the handle of the trapdoor. She hesitantly pulled it open to find that it dropped down into another room. She glanced at Bella, who shrugged, then nodded. Renesmee eased herself into the gap and let go, dropping down into the room below. Bella quickly followed suit, looking around in the darkness.

"Look, there's a door," Renesmee said, softly.

Bella followed her gaze and saw that there was indeed a door, a route of escape. She made towards it, surprised when it opened so easily. But her hopes were quickly dashed when she saw it was all blocked up on the other side.

"What's the point in building a door," she said, "If you're just going to block up the other side."

"There isn't one," Renesmee said, frowning slightly. "Unless it was blocked up to prevent anyone else getting through."

"Are you saying…"

Renesmee nodded. "Is there any way we can move this rock? A lever maybe. Or a button."

They both looked around carefully. The room was empty, the walls made up of oddly shaped stone.

"There!" Bella cried. "See there, that little stone inside the bigger one. We just have to pull it out, and there should be something behind it to help us move that rock that's blocking the door."

Hurriedly, they cut away the concrete surrounding the stone, after nipping back up to the basement to fetch a few tools. The stone was prised out, revealing a small but sturdy lever behind it. Renesmee stood by the door, and as Bella pulled the lever, she saw the rock move to the side, revealing a tunnel.

"It worked," she exclaimed, relieved. "There's a tunnel here."

Bella was at her daughter's side immediately, peering into the tunnel.

"Edward must have gone this way," she said. "You start going through. I'll join you in a minute. Be careful."

Renesmee nodded and disappeared into the darkness, while Bella carefully pushed the trapdoor closed, before entering the tunnel herself, shutting the door behind her. For a while, there was nothing as the pair of them felt their way through the darkness. Nothing, until they reached a dead end.

"Dead end," Renesmee said, frustratedly.

"Perhaps…" Bella said. Her fingers were moving along the stone wall, brushing against something that felt like paper. She tugged it out of the gab between two stones, and unfolded it, just able to make out the writing on it.

Writing she would recognise anywhere.

"What's that?" Renesmee asked.

"It's a letter. From Edward," Bella said, beginning reading it.

Bella,

If you are reading this, and I dearly hope you are, it means that you are safe, and have been able to come out of hiding. I'm glad. It also means that the wolves survived to pass on my message.

After I broke out of jail, I went to the Denalis, staying with them for a while. But then I discovered that a tracer was placed on me during my time at prison, and the humans were coming after me. They burned down the Denali's home, and that's when I knew I had to leave.

When I arrived here, I knew it was only a matter of time before I was found. So I built the little extra room beneath the basement, and then a tunnel underground. Look up. You can climb up to the surface and then there'll be a hidden trapdoor. Hopefully it's still there at the time of you reading this.

I have to keep moving. I can't stay in one place for too long. But at every place I go, I'll leave a clue as to where I've gone next. Follow them. Eventually, you'll find me.

The next place I went to is Sri Lanka. Go to the Kalu River. You'll find my clue somewhere on the bank.

Good luck. I love you.

Your

Edward

"Sri Lanka," Bella said, confidently. "The Kalu River. That's where we're going next."


Working together, Bella and Renesmee had succeeded in finding Edward's next clue, moving onto the next country: Indonesia. There, they'd gone from city to city, finding new clues, following Edward's path.

Although they were making progress, it was slow, and the search was difficult. Still, Bella and Renesmee kept faith. Until the letter they found in Vietnam, that changed everything for Renesmee.

Bella

I've been sighted. The human hasn't told anyone yet, but I'm afraid that they might do before I can figure out a way to silence them- hopefully without killing them. If I survive, you'll find the next clue

It was short, hurriedly written, ending mid-sentence. Edward had obviously had to make a run for it as he was writing. And for Renesmee, who's hope had been dwindling, that was the sign that it was time to give up.

"What do you mean, give up?" Bella asked, when Renesmee tried to approach her with the subject.

"I mean that…" she took a deep breath. "I think Dad's dead. Really. I know you don't believe it but… after all this, I just can't believe that he's still alive. There's no way he could have survived."

Bella shook her head. "No, no. He's still alive. I know he is."

Renesmee sighed. "I won't try persuade you to stop searching, but I can't continue. We've been to so many countries, searching so many cities. It's taken us months to get to this point, and I think here is where he died. This city. I'm sorry but I- I can't."

Realising there was no use trying to convince Renesmee to stay, Bella nodded. "Okay then," she said quietly. "I can't stop you, and I won't. You can go home. But I'm continuing. I have to."

Reaching an agreement, both understanding the other's side, mother and daughter parted ways.


It had been a week since Renesmee had left to go home, and Bella was sat in an armchair in the house she'd found the last clue in. So many hours had been spent staring at the letter, tracing her finger over the delicately written words. And while she hated to admit this, she was beginning to lose hope too.

Sighing frustratedly, Bella turned over the letter. On the other side was part of a map. The edges were jagged, clearly having been ripped hurriedly out of a book. Bella frowned. She got up and scanned the bookshelf, picking out the book about Vietnam. She flipped through it, finally finding a torn page. She lifted the letter up to it and they fit together.

Grinning with anticipation, Bella studied the map on the half of the page still in the book. Looking closely, she realised one of the cities was circled.

"Got it," she said, triumphantly.